Did I give my rabbit a heart attack?

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uhohxitsnami

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So I woke up this morning and Phoebe (my English lop) was starting to pee on the rug! She sometimes does this as she hasn’t been fully litter box trained, but she’s okay at it. Anyway, I got off the couch and scooped her up and put her in her litter box, but she kind of looked dazed and just fell over and flopped inside of it. This was a little weird for her. I let her lay there for a bit, and then got her out to assess how she was. Her heart rate was absolutely RACING and THUMPING and I felt so bad! I even said “phoebe, phoebe!” A couple times before getting her, so I thought she would at least have heard me coming/some kind of noise beforehand.

After her heart rate wouldn’t calm down and she grew SUPER lethargic, I took her to the vet. They said she wasn’t in critical condition, just not great. They didn’t do anything to her though as far as give her anything. I took her back home and sat with her for a bit, and then went to work.

I came back on my lunch and she had barely moved (obviously not gone to the bathroom or eaten). I held out some hay and a dime sized amount of a pear, which she ate. I went back to work and then checked back on her again, she eat a few more strings of hay and a little lettuce, but she’s still super super lethargic and tired and keeps flopping. I know flopping is a sign of relaxation, but it appears she’s doing it more out of exhaustion.

Has anyone ever had this happen to their bun? What did you do? She’s on the couch with me now and I’ve just been petting her and keeping her under the covers with me since she felt a little cold. I’ll try to get her to eat again in a bit. Is she just super super tired? I’m so worried, and feel so bad I think I caused this. She was perfectly normal before I picked her up, and it kills me. [emoji20][emoji20][emoji20]
 
If she's not doing this from overheating and is lethargic, there could be something critical going on with her heart or other critical body system, and I would suggest immediately getting her to an experienced rabbit vet for tests. She will likely need to be put on oxygen and possibly even an IV until the proper tests are run and they figure out what is going on.

She could have had some sort of underlying problem that coincided with you picking her up, and had nothing to do with what you did.
 
I took her to a vet this morning and they seemed mildly unconcerned honestly. They said it sounded like she just needed rest. She ate just a tiny bit more just now which is good, but it wasn’t anything too substantial.... I’m going to take her first thing tomorrow if she’s still the same. I worry she is exhausted or if it was from shock that a second vet trip will only stress her out more...
 
Did you go to a regular dog and cat vet or a rabbit savvy vet? At this point, you need to be forcing some food just to get her through the night so her digestive system doesn't shut down. Maybe a pellet slurry, soak some pellets in some water and put in a syringe and put to the side of the front teeth. Don't put too much at one time.
 

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